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ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN 
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No. 1 of the "Timely Topics" Series. 
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VALLEY OF THE NILE. 



TIMELY TOPICS \ nt .^^ 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT 



GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE 

u 

AUTHOR OF "ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN ASIA," "MODERN 
GREECE," ETC. 



U '^' 




BOSTON 

TICKNOR AND COMPANY 

1886 



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xP 



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Copyright, 18S5 
By TICKNOR AND COMPANY. 



A/l rights reserved 



PRESS OF 

ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL 

BOSTON 



PREFACE. 



The interference of England in the affairs 
of Egypt, and the results which have flowed 
therefrom, have for several years attracted the 
world's attention by a succession of striking and 
often thrilling and dramatic events. To those 
who study those events, even superficially, a 
distinct connection will appear between the 
establishment by England of a dominant influ- 
ence in Egypt, and the attitude of England 
towards Russia in the East. Both are parts of 
the historic and constantly recurring Eastern 
Question. Had not Russian aggression in the 
East threatened Constantinople and India, it is 
scarcely conceivable that England would ever 
have deeply concerned herself in the affairs of 

Egypt. 

This volume aims to present in a clear light 



4 PREFACE. 

the history of Egypt during the last seventy 
years ; the present internal condition of the 
country ; the conquest and character of the 
region of the Soudan; the rise of the "False 
Prophet ; " the reasons for which and the proc- 
esses by which English influence in Egypt has 
been acquired ; and the events, both in Egypt 
and in the Soudan, which have taken place 
as a consequence of English interference. 

G. M. T. 
Boston, October, 1885. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I. Modern Egypt ... 9 

II. The Suez Canal 30 

III. The Government, People and Resources 

OF Egypt 41 

IV. The Soudan 55 

V. El Mahdi, the "False Prophet" ... 62 

VI. England in Egypt and the Soudan ... 74 



LIST OF MAPS. 



VALLEY OF THE NILE Frontispiece 

FORTRESS OF THE SOUDAN . facing page 58 
KHARTOUM AND ENVIRONS . - « « 84 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



I. 

MODERN EGYPT. 



The history of modern Egypt began with 
the foundation of the semi-feudal dynasty of 
the present reigning house by Mehemet Ali, 
in 1811. For three centuries Egypt had been 
under the rule of the Sultans of Turkey, and 
had received its governors from Constanti- 
nople. Yet even before the rise of Mehemet 
Ali, the authority of the Sultans in the land 
of the Nile had not been absolute. It had 
always been more or less modified by the great 
Egyptian military caste, which while con- 
ceding the feudal dependence of Egypt on 



lO ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

Turkey, maintained the government of the 
Mamlouk chiefs. The virtual ruler of Egypt 
vs^as a native Bey, chosen by Beys. It w^as he 
who levied 'taxes, kept up a military force, 
coined money, and performed other acts of 
local sovereignty. The principal visible sign 
of Turkish ascendency appeared in the annual 
tribute which was paid by Egypt into the 
coffers of the Sultan. 

Revolts to throw off the Turkish yoke alto- 
gether had taken place before that which, under 
Mehemet Ali, conferred upon Egypt a virtual 
though not as yet an acknowledged indepen- 
dence. These former revolts had not prevailed ; 
but thtf hold of the Sultans had always been 
too weak to enable them to punish or degrade 
the revolting Beys. The invasion of Egypt 
by Napoleon well-nigh destroyed all semblance 
of Turkish authority on the Nile, which was 
only restored by the subsequent naval triumphs 
of England ; always, for her own reasons, the 
prop and protector of the Turk. Yet even 
after Nelson had turned the tide of war in the 
Mediterranean at Trafalgar, the Beys were 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, II 

strong enough to depose, and even on one 
occasion to execute, the viceroys sent by the Sul- 
tan to rule over his uncomfortable dependency. 

Mehemet Ali, who in the history of Eastern 
politics holds a rank of the first magnitude 
as a warrior and a statesman, and to whose 
genius Egypt owes at least a far higher posi- 
tion among the nations than ever since the 
time of her ancient splendor and power, was 
by birth a Macedonian, and by profession a 
soldier in the armies of the Sultan. He was 
as much a foreigner in Egypt as any Turkish 
viceroy. At the age of thirty-seven he had 
already won high military rank by reason of 
his extraordinary capacity, and found himself 
holding an important command in Egypt. Al- 
though he had fought vigorously against the 
disloyal Beys, he contrived to vs^in the respect 
and even the affection of the Egyptians. Sud- 
denly he was proclaimed viceroy by the native 
chiefs at Cairo ; and so feeble at this time 
was the Sultan's grasp on Egypt, that he actu- 
ally withdrew his own viceroy, and acknowl- 
edged Mehemet Ali in his stead. 



12 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

No sooner had Mehemet AH found himself 
in power than he set about building up a 
strong nationality. He suppressed the military 
aristocracy of the Mamlouks, which struggled 
against his promotion ; he reorganized the 
Egyptian forces ; he conquered Syria ; and he 
compelled Turkey to acknowledge by treaty 
his sovereignty, subject to feudal tribute, over 
Egypt and its recent acquisitions. So aggres- 
sive indeed became Mehemet All's military 
aspirations, that he is believed to have cher- 
ished an ambition to conquer European Tur- 
key itself. In a brief war with the Sultan, 
Mehemet's son, Ibrahim Pasha, completely 
defeated *he Turkish forces. Europe, alarmed 
lest Constantinople itself should be attacked, 
intervened in the humiliated Sultan's favor. 
An English fleet proceeded to the Eastern 
waters ; Mehemet All's victorious progress 
was checked, and Syria was restored to the 
Sultan. 

But Mehemet Ali gained one important 
advantage from this international interference. 
By a treaty, of which the signatories were 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 13 

Turkey, England, Russia and Austria, con- 
cluded in 1840, his right to Egyptian sover- 
eignty was acknowledged, and this was declared 
hereditary in his family. The principal re- 
strictions imposed by this treaty on the vice- 
roy were, that he should pay a large annual 
tribute to the Porte ; that his army should 
not be increased beyond a certain stated limit ; 
and that he should hold no direct diplomatic 
relations with other powers. Mehemet Ali 
was wise and shrewd enough to accept this 
settlement in good faith. He had won the 
sanction of the great powers to his viceregal 
powers ; he had shown the Sultan that his 
military prowess was not to be despised ; and 
he had long subdued all serious opposition 
to his rule among the Egyptians themselves. 
He now directed his great abilities ex- 
clusively to the reorganization of Egypt as 
a State, and here his remarkable administra- 
tive genius found abundant scope. The 
system of Egyptian government which exists 
to-day was in the main Mehemet All's 
creation and handiwork ; and, debased as 



14 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

Egypt is beneath the autocratic control of 
the foreigner, there are many traces through 
its present administrative constitution of a 
master-hand in State craft. It is declared, 
on high authority, to be "incomparably the 
most civilized and efficient of existing Mus- 
sulman governments." Many abuses of cen- 
turies' growth and standing were abolished ; 
order was imparted to the official services ; 
education was somew^hat promoted ; the finances 
were placed on a sounder basis, and the in- 
dustries of Egypt were diligently fostered by 
this able sovereign. 

Mehemet Ali died in his eightieth year, 
in 1848. • His successors for the most part 
continued his policy of internal reform and 
constructive energy. He was succeeded by 
his warlike son Ibrahim, whose reign, how- 
ever, only lasted four months. Ibrahim was 
succeeded by his nephew, Abbas, the least 
worthy of Mehemet's successors. Abbas was 
weak, dissolute and unambitious, and for- 
tunately his rule was also brief. He died 
in 1854, giving place to Said Pasha, Mehemet 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 1 5 

All's third son. At this time the order of 
succession to the Egyptian throne, like that in 
Turkey, was that the eldest male of the reign- 
ing family, and not necessarily the eldest son, 
succeeded. Said Pasha was altogether superior 
to Abbas. He did much to repair the in- 
juries in the State which the weakness and 
selfishness of Abbas had inflicted. But Said 
was wanting in the vigorous will of his 
father; and during the nine years of his 
reign Egypt made but slow progress in 
civil and political development. 

Said's successor was Ismail Pasha, son 
of the viceroy Ibrahim, and grandson of 
Mehemet Ali. Ismail reigned from 1863 to 
1879. It was during the sixteen years of his 
rule that the circumstances arose which brought 
foreign interference upon Egypt. Ismail 
was a singular combination of energy, ex- 
travagance, cruelty and self-indulgence. In 
many ways he certainly advanced the material 
interests of Egypt ; but the general result of 
his rule was to plunge Egypt into an in- 
debtedness which formed the pretext for for- 



i6 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

eign interference, and to reduce his dynasty 
to vassalage to England. Ismail was a man 
of European education and experience. He 
had studied long in Paris, and when as a 
young man he returned from France to 
Egypt, he was probably the most cultivated 
person in the kingdom. Under his uncle 
Said he filled some of the highest offices 
of the State, and conducted a campaign in 
the Soudan with success and honor. 

No sooner had he become viceroy than 
his executive ability and vigor became ap- 
parent. The result of the exercise of these 
qualities soon appeared in the prosecution 
and completion of great public works, the 
expansion of the Egyptian revenues, and the 
revival of Egyptian commerce. He seemed 
determined to confer upon his country all 
the material benefits of European civilization. 
Canals, railways, docks, harbors and tele- 
graphs were created with magical rapidity. 
The viceroy personally directed these im- 
provements, and was noted for the assiduity 
with which he devoted himself to his officiaf 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 1 7 

labors. He was, moreover, one of the most 
suave and accessible of men. Yet his rule 
was in many respects harsh, despotic, and 
cruel. He ground down his people with 
oppressive taxes, and amassed for himself a 
colossal fortune from their toil. The leading 
features of his reign may be briefly re- 
viewed. 

In 1866, by means of a heavy bribe, 
Ismail persuaded the Sultan to grant him 
the title of Khidiv-el-Misr (King of Egypt) ; 
which caused the Egyptian sovereign to be 
usually called " the Khedive." But the Sul- 
tan's concessions did not end with the royal 
title. He also changed the order of Egyptian 
succession, which he ordained should descend 
no longer to the nearest male relative, but 
to the eldest son of the last Khedive. Thus 
the Egyptian law of succession was con- 
formed to that of the European powers. In 
return for these concessions the annual trib- 
ute from Egypt to the Sultan was raised 
from $1,880,000 to $3,600,000. Another 
bribe, offered and accepted nine years later, 



IQ ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

induced the Sultan to grant the Khedive the 
right, hitherto forbidden, to send envoys to 
foreign courts, and to maintain an inde- 
pendent Egyptian army. Thus the ties be- 
tween Egypt and Turkey were considerably 
loosened, and the Khedive began to feel 
himself to be a true sovereign. 

The finances of Egypt, under Ismail's ex- 
travagant rule, became more and more in- 
volved, as he himself became richer, and 
as the vast public works which he under- 
took proceeded to completion. By a habit 
of almost constant and reckless borrowing 
Ismail piled the debt of Egypt to stupen- 
dous figures. When he came to the Khe- 
divate that debt amounted to only about 
$16,000,000. In the last year of his reign 
it was not far from $400,000,000. It is not 
easy to say how much the debt is now 
(1885) 5 ^^^ ^^ certainly exceeds the latter 
figures. This indebtedness, it need scarcely 
be said, mainly took the form of bonds, 
which were placed on the European markets. 
The loans thus created, therefore, established 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 1 9 

the creditors of Egypt in almost every Euro- 
pean country, but principally in England and 
in France. Of course in each case that a 
loan was made, Egypt was compelled to 
pay a higher interest, and to accept less 
than the nominal amount of the loan. 

A few examples of these loans may make the 
desperate financial situation at which Egypt 
arrived under Ismail more ctear. The connec- 
tion of Egypt with the Suez canal, and the 
financial complications arising therefrom, must 
be reserved for a separate chapter on that great 
work. In Ismail's first year he effected a loan 
of $28,000,000, at 7 per cent. ; but he only re- 
ceived $34,400,000. Two years later he effected 
a loan for $15,000,000, to complete the Alex- 
andria and Suez railway, at 8 per cent., re- 
ceiving however only $13,000,000. In 1868 he 
effected a loan of $59,500,000, v^hich cost him 
a yearly interest of 13^ per cent., and yielded 
him in actual cash only $36,000,000. This 
loan was intended to relieve the congested 
floating debt, and to finish certain public works 
under way. By 1873, ten years after Ismail's 



20. ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

succession, the unfunded liabilities of Egypt 
had reached the sum of $130,000,000, for 
which Egypt had to pay an average annual 
interest of no less than 14 per cent. 

Five of Ismail's extravagant loans, which 
nominally footed up $279,000,000, had only 
brought him, in actual cash, $175,000,000; but 
he had to pay interest on the larger sum. Nor 
were these public debts the only debts contracted 
by this magnificently lavish prince. He had 
also hypothecated his private estates, which 
are known in Egypt as the " dai'ra," to the lips. 
These estates comprised over 400,000 acres of 
arable land, besides a large number of sugar 
and otliej: factories. Ismail erected factories on 
his estates during his reign which cost at least 
$30,000,000. With the properties of his es- 
tates and his civil list, which was also at his 
personal disposal, his income was something 
like $2,550,000. A succession of loans on the 
" dai'ra" loaded it, as the national treasury had 
been loaded, with a debt of $45,000,000. 

In 1875 the finances of Egypt were tempo- 
rarily relieved by the sale of the Khedive's 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 21 

shares in the Suez canal to the British gov- 
ernment. By this dramatic operation of Lord 
Beaconsfield, then Premier, the Egyptian treas- 
ury received the sum of $19,882,915. The 
crisis of insolvency was delayed, not averted. 
The time had now arrived for the beginning 
of European intervention in the affairs of 
Egypt. The creditors of Egypt became 
alarmed, then clamorous. It may be that the 
two powers chiefly interested in Egyptian 
finances — England and France — saw a politi- 
cal as well as a financial advantage in the 
necessity for securing the interest on the loans 
to their subjects who were Egyptian creditors. 
At all events, the payment of that interest had 
become a grave subject of inquiry and of 
doubt ; and whether the interference was merely 
a pretext for subsequent political control, or 
whether it was a bona-Jide attempt to secure 
Egypt's creditors, it v^as entered upon, and has 
steadily continued to the present day. 

The first step in the direction of foreign in- 
terference was taken by Ismail himself. Egypt 
was on the verge of brankruptcy, and he felt 



22 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

compelled to call in outside assistance. Ac- 
cordingly he asked the British government to 
send two financial experts to Cairo, to examine 
into and effect a reform in the financial system 
of his kingdom. The result was, that Mr. 
Stephen Cave, M.P., arrived at Cairo late in 
1875. His instructions were to investigate 
Egyptian finances and report thereon to the 
English authorities. Mr. Cave spent two 
months on his task, and then submitted his 
report. He declared that the Egyptian treas- 
ury was solvent, and made certain recom- 
mendations, which need not be here described, 
by which its bankruptcy might be averted. 

Mr. (^ave, however, was an investigating 
agent only, and was not armed with diplomatic 
powers. So in the summer of 1876, Mr. 
George J. Goschen, M.P., was sent to Cairo, 
to negotiate with the Khedive some method 
by which the financial difficulty might be 
solved. The French creditors of Egypt had 
now become actively interested in the subject, 
and had already proposed an abortive scheme 
to the Khedive. It was deemed best by Eng- 



« > 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 23 

land and France that they should cooperate in 
bringing about a reform in Egyptian finance. 
To Mr. Goschen, therefore, was joined M. 
Joubert, as representing French interests. 
These joint envoys finally agreed upon a 
scheme completely reorganizing the condi- 
tions of the Egyptian debt, considerably redu- 
cing its sum total, its rate of redemption, and 
the amounts of interest to be paid. To this 
scheme the Khedive reluctantly assented ; and 
it became the lav\^ of Egypt by his decree. 

The inevitable result of the adoption of the 
Goschen-Joubert scheme v^as the establish- 
ment of a joint English and French financial 
control in Egypt. It became necessary that 
the powers should secure some stronger guaran- 
tee than the Khedive's consent that the scheme 
would be carried out in good faith. What has 
since been called the "dual control" speedily 
followed. A joint English and French admin- 
istration of finance was established in 1877 
at Cairo. At its head were two " Controllers- 
General," one English and one French. To 
one of these was assigned the power and duty to 



24 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

collect the revenues of Egypt, and to distribute 
the collected revenue among the several depart- 
ments. The other had charge of the audit of 
the treasury, and of the public debt. Both 
were invested v^ith well-nigh absolute author- 
ity in these functions. The Controller-Gen- 
eral of Receipts exercised full powers over the 
tax collectors. No tax could be levied without 
the approval of his signature. The Controller- 
General of Audit had full power over the treas- 
ury accounts and those of the public offices. 
No departmental checks or orders for payment 
were valid unless countersigned by him. 

The appointment of the Controllers-General 
was foil a period of five years. They were 
directly responsible to the Khedive. They 
were a committee, acting in cooperation with 
the finance minister, to decide upon all the 
larger governmental contracts. They were sup- 
plied with ample subsidiary machinery for 
carrying out their task. Two sub-commissions, 
one of the public debt, and the other of the 
railways and the port of Alexandria, were 
included in the scheme. The first of these sub- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 25 

commissions was composed entirely of English- 
men and Frenchmen, and was intrusted with 
receiving and paying into the Bank of England 
the revenue for paying the debt annuities. The 
second of the sub-commissions comprised two 
Egyptian, one French, and two English mem- 
bers, and had in charge the receiving and pay- 
ing over of the revenues derived from the rail- 
ways and the Alexandria port receipts. The 
dual control, thus set up at Cairo, in spite of all 
the guarantees and safeguards by which it was 
hedged about, was short-lived. It had not been 
in operation two years before it became evident 
that Ismail Pasha himself was tired of the 
arrangement, and restive under the restrictions 
of foreign surveillance. Egyptian statesmen, 
and certain sections of the Egyptian people, 
became hostile to the interference imposed by the 
powers. Financial control necessarily involved, 
to a greater or less extent, control over the 
political affairs of the Khedivate also. A grow- 
ing feeling of jealousy grew up throughout 
the native administration. Something like a 
patriotic party was formed. 



26 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

It Is declared by some that this unfriendly 
sentiment towards the control was manufactured 
by Ismail himself, in order to afford him an 
excuse for retreating from his engagements. 
Others say that he was forced by the threat of 
revolution to take the course he did. It is 
likely enough that each of these opinions is a 
half truth. Ismail did not discourage the 
growth of a patriotic party, and was probably 
glad that its rise should afford him a pretext to 
relieve himself of the restraints of the foreigner. 
At all events, in the spring of 1879 he issued a 
decree abolishing the control, and resuming the 
native management of the finances. Nubar 
Pasha, liis premier, a Christian and a friend of 
the Anglo-French policy, resigned office and 
left Egypt. 

But now Ismail found himself face to face 
with the great powers of Europe. Prince Bis- 
marck, speaking with the might of Germany at 
his back, protested against the Khedive's course, 
and instigated the Sultan, still nominally the 
master of Egypt, to bring pressure upon the 
Khedive. The next event was the sudden depo- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 27 

sition and banishment of Ismail Pasha. This 
was brought about, with the approval and 
cooperation of Bismarck, by the influence of 
England and France. In his place his eldest 
son, Tewfik Pasha, was installed as Khedive of 
Egypt ; and, from that day to this, Tewfik has 
remained unresistingly under the control of 
England. The dual control was restored, with 
enlarged powers. The supervision of the Con- 
trollers-General now extended beyond the region 
of finance into that of the general political 
condition of the kingdom. This restored and 
enlarged control was established by a decree 
of Tewfik in November, 1879. 

The fresh arrangement lasted, with more or 
less friction, about two years and a half. The 
new Khedive proved to be weak, vacillating, 
timorous, easily swayed and cravenly submis- 
sive to his European masters. No doubt the 
financial and material condition of Egypt was 
somewhat improved. On the other hand, the 
Egyptians felt more and more keenly the press- 
ure and the humiliation of foreign interference. 
As time advanced, the symptoms of grave dis- 



28 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

content became more apparent. The army was 
now honeycombed with disaffection. Its officers 
were ahnost to a man hostile to the control, and 
Tewfik was despised and detested by the over- 
whelming majority of his subjects. 

In the summer of 1882 the revolt in the army 
against the control grew ripe. At the head of 
the rebellious soldiery was Arabi Pasha, the 
Minister of War. Arabi was an able soldier, a 
statesman of proved ability, and a patriot whose 
sincerity it is difficult to doubt. At last he put 
himself at the front of the national cause. He 
virtually made Tewfik a prisoner in his palace, 
and took possession of Alexandria with the 
troops. England now took prompt action. She 
proposed to France a joint expedition to put 
down the military insurrection. France refused, 
withdrew from further active interference in 
Egyptian affairs, and thenceforth continued iso- 
lated therefrom. England assumed the task 
alone, and thus acquired the sole responsibility 
of control in Egypt which she has ever since 
retained. 

The British war fleet was sent to Alexandria ; 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 29 

and that ancient city was bombarded, almost 
destroyed, and taken from the insurgents. A 
fire broke out, which completed the destruction 
begun by the bombs of the "Invincible" and 
the "Inflexible." Arabi retreated in good 
order. But the English were prompt in his 
pursuit. A well-appointed army under Sir 
Garnet Wolseley encountered the rebel force at 
Tel-el-Kebir, not far from Cairo, completely 
defeated Arabi, destroyed the fl,ower of the 
Egyptian army, and returned in triumph with 
Arabi as prisoner. Arabi was tried for high 
treason and condemned to death. But the 
English government interposed, and the rebel 
chiet's sentence was commuted to exile for life. 
He was sent to Ceylon, where he is still virtually 
an English prisoner. From the time of the 
battle of Tel-el-Kebir England became prac- 
tically the sole mistress of Egypt; and the 
account of the later events under her rule will 
be given in a subsequent chapter. 



30 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



n. 

THE SUEZ CANAL. 

The successful construction of the Suez canal 
materially modified the politics of Europe, 
changed both the internal and the external 
status of Egypt, and gave a new channel of 
transit to the commerce between Europe and 
Asia. It substituted for the long water way 
around the Cape of Good Hope one which 
reduced tlje time of transit between Europe and 
Asia by about one-half. That such a commu- 
nication should be actually established was a 
matter of very grave political moment to several 
of the European powers. It lessened the mili- 
tary as well as the commercial route to India, 
and this was a matter of high importance to 
England. The same fact caused Russia to look 
with jealous eye upon its completion. Having 
been constructed, moreover, by a French com- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 31 

pany, and to a large extent by French capital, 
it was an enterprise in which France had an 
immediate concern. 

The project of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps to 
pierce the Isthmus of Suez with a canal, thus 
joining the waters of the Mediterranean to those 
of the Red Sea, was by no means the first which 
had been conceived with that end in view. Far 
back in the time of the Pharaohs (about 1400 
B.C.) a canal fifty-seven miles long is said to 
have been built on the isthmus. Darius made a 
similar attempt to unite the two seas, and it 
seems to be proved that a complete canal 
actually existed and was used some three 
centuries before Christ. The first Napoleon 
caused a survey of the isthmus to be made while 
he was in possession of Egypt ; and later 
Mehemet Ali seriously contemplated the con- 
struction of a canal. . But all these projects 
proved abortive until M. de Lesseps had 
matured the scheme which, amid many formi- 
dable obstacles and much ridicule, he at last 
carried to successful completion. 

Ferdinand de Lesseps, when quite a young 



32 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

man, was a clerk in the French consulate at 
Cairo. As far back as 1830 he had begun to 
brood over the idea that a canal might be made, 
and to picture to himself the vast influence which 
such a canal could not fail to have on the relations 
and destiny of nations. This dream occupied 
his mind and his studies for a quarter of a 
century. It was not until 1854, however, that 
Lesseps had matured his plan, and was ready 
to broach it to the Egyptian ruler. Said 
Pasha was then reigning, and from the first 
looked with a certain degree of favor on 
Lesseps's project. He gave him a prelimi- 
nary concession for a canal across the isth- 
mus, and, two years later made this con- 
cession a final one. Lesseps, knowing how 
deeply interested England must be in such a 
water way if completed, applied to Lord 
Palmerston, then Prime Minister, for pecuniary 
aid in prosecuting the scheme. Palmerston only 
laughed him to scorn, declared the project im- 
possible, and vigorously opposed Lesseps's 
operations. 

The enthusiastic engineer was not to be dis- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 33 

mayed by such a rebuff. Turning to his own 
country, Lesseps received prompt and substantial 
encouragement. A company to construct the 
canal was formed with a capital of $40,000,000, 
in shares of $100, more than half of which was 
speedily taken up, for the most part in France. 
In i860 Said Pasha, convinced that the canal 
would be a great thing for Egypt, assumed 
all the shares yet unsold, which amounted to 
$17,500,000. Turkey, as the suzerain of Egypt, 
forbade the undertaking ; but it is a striking 
evidence how feeble Turkish power had become 
in the land of the Nile, that no attention was 
paid to the Sultan's prohibition, and that M. 
Lesseps pursued his undertaking just as if no 
such potentate as the Sultan existed. 

Ground was broken on the Suez canal on the 
25th of April, 1859, iiear the site where the busy 
town of Port Said (named in honor of Said 
Pasha) has since grown up. A large part of the 
workmen were Egyptian fellahs, who had been 
subject to a forced conscription, called the corvee^ 
and were paid cheap wages by the company. 
Owing to the interference of the English govern- 



34 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

ment this supply of native workmen was with- 
drawn just as the canal was getting fairly under 
way. The English also persuaded Ismail that 
the company, under the concessions made to it, 
would be too powerful from a political point of 
view. The issue of the differences which thus 
arose between the company and the Egyptian 
government was, that all matters of disagree- 
ment were referred to the Emperor Napo- 
leon III. 

The Emperor awarded the company an in- 
demnity of $17,500,000, to be paid by Egypt for 
the loss of the corvee^ for the withdrawal of 
certain concessions of land, and for the resump- 
tion of the I'resh-water canal. This added capital 
enabled the company to steadily pursue its great 
project. In 1864, however, Lesseps was obliged 
to negotiate a loan founded on lottery drawings, 
to the amount of $33,330,000. A still further 
loan was contracted five years later of $6,000,- 
000, and Egypt paid the company $6,000,000 
more for the giving up of all rights on the fresh- 
water canal. The total capital of the company 
had now grown to $85,000,000 ; and this sum 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 35 

increased later to $95,000,000. The construc- 
tion of the canal occupied a little more than ten 
years ; and its completion was celebrated in 
November, 1869, by imposing fetes and cere- 
monies, at which the Empress of the French 
and many European notabilities assisted. 

The Suez canal, in its complete course, from 
the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez, is %6 
miles long. Its width at the water line varies 
from 190 feet to 328 feet. Its width at the 
bottom averages 72 feet. Its depth is 26 feet. 
It is supplied with numerous " sidings," by 
which large vessels can be shunted so as to 
allow others to pass in the narrower parts of 
the channel. At its opening the canal was 
available for vessels drawing 18 feet, but the 
widenings since made have considerably in- 
creased this capacity. Up to within a recent 
period the canal has proved sufficient for the 
requirements of commercial transit ; but lat- 
terly it has become overcrowded, and several 
schemes — one for still further widening it, and 
another for constructing a new canal parallel to 
it — have been gravely considered and debated. 



36 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

It is important, from both a political and a 
commercial point of view, to show how the 
Suez canal has shortened the water way from 
the great emporiums of Europe and America 
to those of the Orient. In his valuable book 
on Egypt; Mr. J. C. McCoan gives the fol- 
lowing statement as to the saving of time and 
distance effected by the canal as compared with 
the route around the Cape of Good Hope : 
*' By the latter (the cape) the distance between 
England and Bombay is 10,860 nautical miles, 
w^hile by the canal it is only 6,030 miles, rep- 
resenting a saving of 4,840 miles ; from Mar- 
seilles to Bombay the distance by the cape is 
10,560 miles, by the canal 4,620 miles, or a 
saving of 5,940 miles ; from St. Petersburg to 
Bombay is, by the cape, 11,610 miles, by the 
canal 6,770 miles — a saving of 4,840 miles; 
and from New York to Bombay, via the cape, 
11,520 miles, by the canal 7,920 miles — a 
saving of 3,600 miles." 

The earnings of the company are made by 
tariff charges upon the vessels, merchandise, and 
passengers going through the canal. These 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 37 

charges were regulated ten years ago by an 
international commission of twelve maritime 
powers, and the scale adopted by it was put 
in operation. The charges as established are 
fixed at ten francs per ton, ten per passenger, 
with other dues for pilotage, anchorage and 
minor services. The actual cost of the canal 
is stated at $87,590,000 in round numbers. 
The net profits for the year 1883, the last 
reported, amounted to $7,170,000 in round 
numbers, and the dividend paid to the share- 
holders in that year amounted to 17.33 per 
cent. Inasmuch as the total number of shares 
is about 400,000, England, as the purchaser 
of 176,602, may be said to own more than two- 
fifths of the canal. 

It is provided by the rules of the company 
that, aside from the 5 per cent, interest on the 
shares, the net earnings shall be divided as 
follows : 15 per cent, to the Egyptian treasury ; 
10 to the founders' shares ; 2 to form invalid 
fund ; 71 as dividend on the 400,000 shares ; 
and 2 to the managing directors. The cost of 
the canal to the Egyptian government was very 



38 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

heavy, and had much to do with bringing the 
financial affairs of Egypt into the perplexity 
which provoked foreign interference. The total 
cost is given by Mr. McCoan, up to 1875, at 
about $87,000,000. " Nor is this even," he 
says, " the full measure of its heavy cost to 
the country. It has diverted from the native 
harbors and railroads a large and profitable 
transit traffic, from which for years to come 
the treasury will derive little beyond some 
trifling customs dues. Yet the political 
gains from it have been great. Its impor- 
tance to the trade of the world has given 
Egypt a definite place in the European con- 
cert." , 

The extent to which the maritime use of 
the canal has grown may be judged by these 
figures. In 1873, 1,17^ vessels, with an ag- 
gregate tonnage of 2,085,270, passed through, 
and the receipts amounted to about $500,000. 
In 1883, 3,307 vessels, with an aggregate ton- 
nage of 8,106,601 passed through, yielding 
receipts to the sum of $13,000,000. Of the 
different maritime nations England sends three- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 39 

quarters of the vessels and tonnage which go 
through the canal. In 1883, of the 3,307 
vessels, 2,537 were English, 272 were French, 
124 were Dutch, 123 were German, 67 were 
Austrian, 63 were Italian, 51 were Spanish, 
18 were Russian, 18 were Norwegian, 12 
were Belgian, 9 were Turkish, and 3 were 
Egyptian. 

Some idea is thus gained of the value of 
the Suez canal to the commercial world 
dealing with the East. Its political impor- 
tance should not be ignored. In the event 
of war, especially of war between Russia and 
England, the Suez canal would be of special, 
and almost vital, necessity to England. It 
would be sorely needed for the transit of her 
war-ships, troops and war-supplies. Eng- 
land's interest in the canal is, indeed, three- 
fold. She has a stake in its prosperity as 
the holder of more than a third of its shares ; 
as the largest commercial State trading with 
the East ; and as the ruler of India, to which 
the canal offers the nearest route. It is, in- 
deed, the Suez canal which affords England 



40 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

one of her most imperative reasons for keep- 
ing her hold on Egypt, through whose territory 
the canal passes, and to whose administra- 
tion and military control the canal is sub- 
ject. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 41 



III. 

THE GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE AND 
RESOURCES OF EGYPT. 

In considering the government of Egypt 
as it now exists it must always be borne 
in mind that English influence is in reality 
paramount in Cairo. The Khedive is an ab- 
solute ruler. All the laws are promulgated 
by him, and his will is law throughout the 
administration. But circumstances have placed 
the Khedive completely under English influ- 
ence. The English diplomatic agent, resi- 
dent at Cairo, guides the Khedive's policy 
with the force of command. Thus the organ- 
ization of the Egyptian army and policy, 
the execution of reforms in Egypt's internal 
affairs, as well as the regulation of Egyptian 
finance, are really in the hands of the foreign 
power which stands before Europe and the 



42 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

world solely accountable for the well-being 
and solvency of the Egyptian realm. 

There is a certain degree of executive and 
legislative system in the Egyptian adminis- 
tration. The Khedive has his cabinet of five 
ministers, who preside respectively over for- 
eign affairs, finances, war, interior, public 
worship and education. The minister of 
foreign affairs is usually the Prime Minister^ 
who, with the Khedive's assent, selects and 
appoints his colleagues. Connected in a certain 
way with the ministry is an English "financial 
adviser," who has a "consultation voice" 
in the ministerial council. By a constitutional 
project ,put into operation under English 
influence in 1883, two bodies of a quasi 
legislative character were established. One 
of these is a legislative council of thirty mem- 
bers, of whom sixteen are chosen by indi- 
rect and very restricted suffrage for six years, 
and fourteen are appointed by the Khedive. 
The functions of this body are defined to be 
" to consider petitions addressed to the Khe- 
dive, and to give their views on the budget 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 43 

and other matters ; " these views being accepted 
or rejected on the advice of the ministers. 

The other public body is called the Gen- 
eral Assembly. It comprises the ministers, 
the members of the legislative council, and 
forty-six additional members chosen by in- 
direct suffrage for six years. This assembly 
is empowered to "vote. new taxes, give its 
opinion on every new loan, public works, 
land-taxes, and on other matters which are 
submitted to it by the Khedive." The legis- 
lative council meets several times each year ; 
the General Assembly at least as often as 
once in two years. No one can be elected 
to the latter body who is not able to read 
and write, or who pays a land tax of less 
than $250. The electoral body of Egypt, the 
total population of which is nearly 7,000,000, 
is less than 1,000,000. 

A large reform was also effected in 1883, 
in the local government of the Egyptian 
provinces. Over the eight principal towns 
are placed officials of the rank of Governor. 
Egypt is also divided into fourteen prefectures, 



44 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

or provinces, governed by mudirs. These 
prefectures are divided into departments, or 
kisms^ which are governed by mamours; 
and the departments are again divided into 
communes, or cantons, governed by nazirs 
and sheiks. Each province has its elective 
legislative council, chosen indirectly by uni- 
versal suffrage ; and there is also a local 
council for each commune or canton. The 
village sheik is the tax assessor and gatherer, 
and is a magistrate and constable in one. 
The old cruel system of v^ringing oppressive 
taxes from the fellahs by the application of 
the courbash — a whip made of hippopota- 
mus hidQ — is fast going out of existence, 
owing to the more enlightened methods of 
tax levying and collecting introduced under 
English influence. 

Other important changes which have been 
effected in Egyptian affairs within two or 
three years have been the reorganization of 
the judicial system, of the police, and of 
the army. The courts have been to some 
extent reformed by the continuation of mixed 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 45 

tribunals of Europeans and natives, and the 
curtailment and regulation of the judicial 
powers of the mudirs. A new criminal code 
was established in 1884, and a Procureur- 
General (attorney-general) created to super- 
vise the magisterial system. It may be 
broadly said that justice is done in Egypt 
as never before, though there is still much 
to do before its reign can become supreme. 
The police system has been consolidated and 
centralized, and placed under the control of 
a Director-General at Cairo. The police were 
formerly under the control of the mudirs. 
In the autumn of 1882 the entire Egyptian 
army -was disbanded, and organized on a 
new basis. The new army comprised about 
6,000 men, and was put under the command 
of an English general, Sir Evelyn Wood. 

From the time of the defeat of Arabi 
Pasha at Tel-el-Kebir to the present, an 
English army of occupation has remained in 
Egypt, garrisoned mainly at Alexandria and 
Cairo. Thus England holds military as well 
as political control over the country. This 



4^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

army according to the last reports com- 
prised about 11,000 men, in command of 
General Stephenson. This of course is ex- 
clusive of the forces sent more recently to 
the Soudan, under the commands respectively 
of Generals Wolseley and Graham. The 
principal results of the virtual English pro- 
tectorate have been, that the courbash has 
been for the most part abolished ; the system 
of public v^orks has been improved ; the new- 
tribunals have been put into w^orking order, 
and the prison system has been materially re- 
formed. 

The subjects of the Khedive dwelling in 
Egypt proper are very diverse in race and traits. 
They comprise settled Arabs (the large propor- 
tion of whom are fellaheen, or peasants, tilling 
the land) , Bedoween (or nomadic Arabs) , Turks, 
Copts, Abyssinians, Nubians, Jews, rayah 
Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and Europeans of 
many nationalities. Of these the settled Arabs 
form the overwhelming majority, comprising 
probably four-fifths of the population. It is 
said that most of these settled Arabs are descend- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 47 

ants of the Christian Copts, who apostasized to 
Islam when the Arabs conquered Egypt in the 
seventh century. The Arab fellaheens, espe- 
cially those of lower Egypt, are described as 
powerful, sturdy men, of a good average height, 
and notable often for their physical beauty. The 
women too are finely formed, and have in 
many cases beautiful teeth and expressive 
features. McCoan says of the fellaheen that 
they are ' ' the most patient, the most pacific, the 
most home-loving, and withal the merriest race 
in the world." They are temperate, honest 
and easily content. 

As for the wandering Bedoween who swarm 
in the valleys and deserts of the upper Nile, 
they present the characteristics which mark no- 
madic races the world over. It is thought that 
the Bedoween number in all not far from 300,000, 
the most important tribes being the Ababdehs 
and the Bishareen, on the borders and northern 
regions of the Soudan. The Bedoween are 
proud, independent, warlike, impulsive and 
fickle. They present a singular contrast to their 
settled Arab brethren. They are adventurous 



4^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

and wandering by nature and inheritance. For 
a few months they settle down on the borders 
where fertility joins the desert ; the rest of the 
year finds them crossing the dreary wastes, 
encamping by lovely springs, and flitting with 
their caravans from oasis to oasis. 

Second in the Egyptian population in point 
of numbers are the Copts, the ancient Christians 
of the Nile-land. The Copts are regarded as 
the descendants of the Egyptians of the Rameses 
and the Pharaohs, though with some admixture 
of Greek and Persian blood. Most of all the 
Khedive's subjects the Copts resemble the sculpt- 
ured faces on the pyramids and obelisks. They 
are small oT stature, full of feature, with straight 
noses, large lips and large black eyes. They 
belong to the Jacobite set of Christians, and 
regard St. Mark as the founder of their faith. 
But they are probably the most degraded of 
Christian sects, practising polygamy and circum- 
cision and other Moslem customs. They have, 
however, good business capacity, and comprise 
a ^arge proportion of the retail shopkeepers and 
land agents in Egypt. The Copts may be 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 49 

ranked as the lower middle class of Egyptian 
society. In upper Egypt many of them are 
small farmers ; and they are employed to some 
extent in subordinate capacities in the public 
offices. 

The subjugation of Egypt by the Turks re- 
sulted naturally in the addition of a Turkish 
population to the mixed races of the Nile. But 
nearly all the Turks who followed in the wake 
of Selim's conquest three and a half centuries 
ago took up their abode in or near Cairo. 
They became the dominant official and social 
caste, and were a sort of aristocracy, who held 
aloof from their Egyptian fellow-Moslems. 
After a time, however, the Turks in Egypt lost 
their social supremacy and their official influ- 
ence. The offices were taken from them and 
given to Arabs ; and as time went on the 
Turkish colony decreased in numbers. There 
are now said to be less than 10,000 Turks in 
Egypt, mostly settled in the large cities, and 
engaged in trade or industrial occupations. 

Of the remaining races domiciled in Egypt it 
may be said that the Abyssinians nearly resemble 



so ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

the Copts, alike in religious belief and custom, 
in physical traits, and in moral and mental char- 
acteristics. For the most part they came to Egypt 
as slaves, and the women are greatly preponder- 
ant in number. There are two kinds of Greeks 
in Egypt: those who claim to be descended 
from the ancient Greek conquerors, and the 
modern Greeks who have taken up their abode 
in the cities, and are the lowest and most w^orth- 
less of the denizens of the eastern Mediterra- 
nean. Lastly, the Jews of Egypt are the most 
degraded of all oriental Jews. They were long 
bitterly persecuted, but are much less so in these 
days of broader toleration. Some of them have 
risen to high influence as bankers and mer- 
chants ; but for the most part they are pawn- 
brokers, usurers, vendors of cheap goods and 
artisans. 

The principal industry of Egypt is and has 
been for many years the cultivation of the 
land in what is called the Delta, and along 
the banks of the Nile. The Delta is an 
irregular triangle, enclosed between the two 
branches of the Nile which flow into the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 5^ 

Mediterranean. Its base is about 80 miles 
in length, and its area about 2,000 square 
miles. The Delta is fertile, and almost 
wholly arable. The cultivable land above 
it, from Cairo as far as Assouan, has an 
average width, including both banks of 
the river Nile, of 6 miles ; being wider at 
some points and narrower at others. Of 
course the limit of this arable land on 
either side is the line up to which the Nile 
overflows its banks in the spring. On either 
side the valley is shut in from the desert 
regions beyond by ranges of hills and moun- 
tains. 

There are, moreover, certain valleys which 
are very fruitful. The chief of these is the 
valley of Fayoum, 80 miles south-west 
from Cairo, which, being artificially watered 
by canals, is luxuriantly fertile over a tract 
of some 700 square miles. The valley of 
Fayoum produces in abundance not only rice 
and grain, but also dates, flax, grapes, cot- 
ton, many varieties of fruit, and roses, from 
which rose-water is made. There are 



52 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

several large oases, too, in Egyptian ter- 
ritory which reward the tiller of the land 
with profitable crops. The most consider- 
able of these are the Great and Lesser Oases, 
southward from Fayoum. In all the arable 
land of Egypt is estimated at not far from 
5,000,000 acres, of which 500,000 comprise 
the landed estates of the Khedive. As has 
been said, the great mass of farm laborers 
are the Arab fellaheen. 

The most valuable product of Egyptian 
land is cotton, a plant which was certainly 
cultivated by the ancient, as it still is by the 
modern, Egyptians. The revival of cotton- 
planting J:ook place in 182 1 under the aus- 
pices of Mehemet Ali. At present it is 
probable that 1,000,000 acres are yearly sown 
with this staple. In 1883 cotton to the 
value of $38,000,000 was exported from 
Egypt, almost entirely to England. Besides 
this, cotton-seed was exported to the value 
of $8,500,000. The next product in value 
is beans, which are 'grown in nearly every 
part of Egypt, and yielded in exports, in 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 53 

1883, about $5,000,000. Wheat is the third 
staple, with an export value of ^2,735,000. 

One of the great industries of Egypt, both 
in production and in manufacture, is sugar. 
Egyptian sugar, moreover, competes success- 
fully with the best sugar of France. In 
1883 sugar to the value of $2,000,000 was 
exported from Egypt. Some 80,000 acres 
are devoted to the cultivation of the sugar- 
cane, of which more than one-half is grown 
on the Khedive's estates. The late Khedive, 
Ismail, spent enormous sums in the erection 
of sugar factories and treacle (molasses) mills. 
Of the other products of Egypt, ivory was 
exported in 1 883 to the value of $600,000 ; 
skins to the value of $625,000; rice $605,000 ; 
gum $600,000 ; maize $200,000 ; and ostrich 
feathers $350,000. 

The total of Egyptian exports for 1883 
was about $61,500,000, of which England re- 
ceived about two-thirds ; America received 
Egyptian products to the amount of $150,000. 
The imports into Egypt for this same year 
reached $43,000,000, of which England con- 



54 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

tributed a little less than one-half. The prin- 
cipal imports consisted of cotton goods, coal, 
clothing, indigo, timber, wines and spirits, 
coffee, tobacco, refined sugar and machinery. 
It may be added that the Egyptian railways 
now cover lines to the extent of 1,276 miles; 
that the telegraphs have a total length of 
about 3,000 miles, and that the number of 
post-offices in the kingdom is about 172. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. %S 



IV. 

THE SOUDAN. 

The country of the Soudan, which has at- 
tracted public attention during the past two or 
three years, is a vast, vague region lying to the 
south of Egypt proper, and has no well-defined 
boundaries. The word " Soudan" means "the 
country of the black men." The Soudan which 
belongs to Egypt, however, embraces but a small 
portion of the territory designated by that name ; 
and even of the Soudan of Egypt it is quite im- 
possible to say where, at least on the west and 
on the south, it begins and ends. Egypt proper 
may be said to end at the northern borders of 
the great Nubian desert, its most southerly point 
on the Nile being the town of Assouan, just 
below the first cataract. On the east the 
Egyptian Soudan finds its limit at the Red Sea 
and Abyssinia. 



56 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

On the west Egyptian rule has extended 
itself as far as the important district of Darfour, 
and includes the province of Kordofan. It is in 
the south, far up the two branches of the Nile, 
that the boundaries of the Soudan become the 
most indefinite. It is certain that General 
Gordon, during his first administration as gov- 
ernor of the Soudan in 1874-5, carried his con- 
quests up almost to Lake Albert Nyanza, the 
source itself of the Nile. But the southern limit 
of the country over which Egypt has actually 
established authority has been placed, by a 
recent writer, at Gondokoro. The whole region 
of the Soudan under Egyptian rule is roughly 
estimated at 2,500,000 square miles, with a 
population somewhere between 10,000,000 and 
15,000,000. Of this population it is probable 
that one-third are nomadic Arabs, and the other 
two-thirds negroes. A majority of the inhabi- 
tants, however, both Arab and negro, are be- 
lieved to be Mahommedans. 

The conquest of the northern portion of the 
Soudan was effected by Mehemet Ali, whose 
son Ibrahim carried the Egyptian arms to the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 57 

Junction of the White and Blue Niles. At that 
junction Mehemet founded the fortress town of 
Khartoum, which afterward became, and still 
continues to be, the most important emporium 
and entrepot of the country. It commanded the 
slave reserves to the south and west, received the 
supplies of ivory and other products of the 
desert regions, and gave a formidable point of 
defence and departure to the military projects of 
Egypt. For many years after Mehemet's death 
no effort was made by the Egyptian rulers to 
extend their dominions in the Soudan. Ismail 
Pasha, however, formed a vast scheme of ag- 
grandizement, in which he was encouraged by 
the English in the hope that thereby the hideous 
slave-trade of the upper Nile might be restricted, 
if not altogether crushed out. 

Ismail made the conquest of Darfour in 1875, 
and thereby added a large and for the most part 
fruitful province to his kingdom. Darfour pro- 
duces wheat, rice, maize and tobacco in abun- 
dance, and some cotton. It has mines of copper 
and iron, and is a prosperous cattle-raising 
country. It has a thriving trade with Egypt 



5S ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

and Arabia in ivory, ostrich feathers, hides, and, 
it is unpleasant to add, in slaves. Already the 
fertile and densely populated Shillook country 
had come under Egyptian control ; while the ex- 
peditions of Sir Samuel Baker and, soon after, 
of " Chinese Gordon," undertaken vs^ith a 
primary view of suppressing the slave-trade, 
served to extend Egyptian rule far up the Nile, 
and to open communication with regions which 
had before been, to civilization, as dark as any 
part of the " Dark Continent." Indeed, so 
vigorous were Gordon's efforts to this end that 
he actually established a line of communication 
from Cairo to the equator, a distance of nearly 
3,000 milgs. 

But the control of the Egyptian Khedives 
over the Soudan was never complete. It could 
only be maintained in the settled towns and 
at the isolated garrison posts. It could not 
reach out over the deserts, and reduce the 
vast, wandering, barbarous, swarming Arabs 
and negroes to submission. Neither Baker 
nor Gordon could suppress, or more than 
temporarily limit, the slave-trade. That trade 




FORTRESS OF THE SOUDAN. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 59 

was and is truly " Ingrained in every fibre 
of what may be called social life throughout 
all Central and Eastern Africa, and no 
power on earth can extinguish it except by 
the slow agency of civilization." The chan- 
nels by which slaves are brought to the 
Red Sea and shipped to Arabia and other 
parts of Western Asia, run from the Galla 
country, the regions of the great southern 
lakes, and Kordofan ; and it has been found 
impossible to close more than one or two 
of these channels at a time. 

The principal fortress towns of the Soudan 
which have been garrisoned by Egyptian 
troops, and from which Egyptian governors 
have tried to impose the decrees of Cairo, 
are Khartoum, Dongola, Berber, Shendy, Sen- 
naar, all of which are on the upper Nile, 
and all except Sennaar, below the junction of 
the two branches ; Kassala, which stands 
not far from the Abyssinian frontier, near the 
Akbara — the largest affluent of the Nile which 
empties into it below Khartoum ; and Suakin, 
a seaport on the Red Sea, which is 240 



6o ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

miles from Berber, the nearest point to 
Suakin on the Nile. An abortive attempt 
was made by Ismail to construct a railway 
up the valley of the Nile from Cairo to 
Khartoum ; but this railway up to the pres- 
ent time has only been completed about 200 
miles to Siout ; the distance from Cairo to 
Khartoum being about 1,200 miles. 

The rule of the Egyptians in the Soudan 
has been from first to last oppressive and 
capriciously cruel. Taxes have been imposed 
with rigor, and have been collected with 
ruthless severity. The Khedives have en- 
forced conscriptions, by which the Arabs and 
negroes have been compelled to enter the 
Egyptian army, and to fight, if need there 
were, their own trilDCS and countrymen. It 
is said that at times no less than 30,000 
Soudanese have been enrolled among the 
Egyptian forces. The people of the Soudan 
are composed of fierce, warlike races, as they 
have abundantly shown in the recent cam- 
paigns, and they have always resented the 
rule of their northern conquerors. They 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 6 1 

could only be kept from open revolt by the 
stringent application of military methods. 
The slave-traders resented interference v^ith 
their inhuman but profitable commerce ; while 
that part of the population which eagerly 
desired the suppression of the slave-trade 
looked with despair on the futile attempts of 
the Egyptian pashas, aided by English gov- 
ernors, to put it down. 

It only needs a brief glimpse of the Sou- 
dan — of the character of its inhabitants ; its 
vast regions of desert, interspersed with fer- 
tile provinces, oases and rich valleys ; the 
conditions of its means of subsistence ; the 
oppressive methods of Egyptian rule ; the op- 
portunities afforded by the demoralization of 
Egyptian affairs ; the appeal made by a pre- 
tended prophet, at a ripe moment, to the 
fanaticism and superstition of barbarous Mos- 
lems — to explain the formidable revolt which 
has destroyed garrisons, sacrificed Gordon, 
and long defied the prowess of English arms. 
The events which have led to these results 
properly belong to another chapter. 



62 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 



V. 



EL MAHDI, THE "FALSE PROPHET." 

Having briefly described the building up of 
the modern kingdom of Egypt ; the construction 
of the Suez canal, and its bearing upon European 
politics and especially upon English interests ; 
the present status of the Egyptian government, 
and the political control of England therein ; and 
the region of the Soudan, upon which public 
interest was recently intent ; I resume the nar- 
ration of the events which have followed the 
overthrow of Arabi Pasha by the English and 
the consequent strengthening of the English hold 
on Egypt. 

Arabi' s defeat and capture left Egypt, indeed, 
completely at the mercy of England. With him 
the flower of the Egyptian army had been over- 
thrown and dispersed ; and it had become nec- 
essary that the Khedive's dominions should be 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 63 

protected by English troops. While, therefore, 
the English cabinet reiterated the declaration 
that they intended to evacuate Egypt, and to 
leave the Khedive entirely to himself, just as 
soon as the country could be restored to order 
and settled government, as a fact English influ- 
ence was now supreme at Cairo, and increased 
English garrisons were established at Cairo and 
Alexandria. But scarcely had Arabi been safely 
consigned to captivity in Ceylon when a fresh 
revolt broke out against Egyptian rule in the 
distant and difficult region of the Soudan, which 
was destined to prove far more obstinate than 
that of the ex-Minister of War. This revolt was 
headed by a personage so remarkable, with a 
career so dramatic, that some account of him 
will not be out of place. 

About four years ago a startling rumor crept 
through the Mohammedan populations of Africa 
and Arabia that a man claiming to be the 
later Messiah of Islam, the successor of Moham- 
med, the chief of a new crusade, had made his 
appearance south of the Nubian desert. What 
gave greater importance to the rumor was, that 



64 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

for generations there has floated in the East a 
saying that in the latter part of this century a 
new prophet would arise ; would gather to him 
the scattered forces of the faithful ; and would 
restore the Moslem faith and power to their 
ancient height. The appearance of the new 
self-styled "Mahdi" was at first discredited. 
At Constantinople and at Mecca the news was 
received with indiflerence and contempt. Many 
an impostor has thus attempted to foist him- 
self with prophetic authority on Islam, only to 
be overwhelmed with disaster and to be driven 
into obscurity and disgrace. But the stories of 
the latest Mahdi kept coming from the barbarous 
regions of tiie upper Soudan. It was said that 
a large though savage army had flocked to his 
standard ; that the tribes on the banks of the 
Blue and the White Nile were giving in their 
allegiance to him ; and that the disaffection 
which he had stirred up was spreading even 
among the warlike Bedoween between the Nile 
and the Red Sea. 

The undoubted existence and the increasing 
strength of the Mahdi could at last no longer be 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 65 

ignored at the centres of Mohammedan author- 
ity. A serious alarm seized the court of the 
Sultan-Caliph, and grave councils were held in 
the great temple at Mecca, Then the Grand 
Cherif of Mecca, the highest of the high-priests 
of Islam, issued his proclamation declaring the 
new claimant to be an impostor, and warning 
the faithful to avoid his standard and to resist his 
pretensions. It was supposed that this decree 
would at once act on the superstitious minds of 
the African Mohammedans, and that the self- 
claimed Mahdi would be deserted and, like pre- 
vious impostors, disappear. But this result did 
not follow. The Cherif s fulmination did not 
serve in the least to check the growth of the 
Mahdi's cause. Gradually his following in- 
creased ; and now, assuming the militant role of 
Mohammed, he began an aggressive campaign. 
He set to himself the task first of wresting the 
Soudan from the rule of Egypt ; and did not 
hesitate to proclaim that he intended to pursue 
the conquest of all the African Mohammedan 
States. 

The Mahdi's career seems to have been at- 



66 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

tended from the first with almost unvarying 
good fortune. More than one Egyptian strong- 
hold fell into the hands of his rabble and fanatic 
horde. At last the Egyptian Khedive, miserable 
as his situation was, had no alternative but to 
attempt the suppression of this fresh revolt 
against his authority. The defeat of Arabi 
Pasha at Tel-el-Kebir had deprived the Khedive 
of his best troops, and he was forced to send an 
inferior armament against the rebellious prophet. 
A force of 10,000 Egyptians and Nubians, 
under command of Hicks Pasha, an English- 
man, marched against the Mahdi, who was 
already threatening the fortresses of the upper 
Nile. The hostile armies met at El Obeid, west 
of the White Nile. The encounter was short 
and savage. Its appalling result was, that Hicks 
Pasha and his force were not only overwhelm- 
ingly defeated, but were almost to a man de- 
stroyed on the field of battle by the enraged 
legions of the prophet. 

All Europe and the East shuddered at this 
frightful disaster, which was a terrific blow at 
the rule of the Khedive. It also shook the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 67 

Sultan's throne, and carried dismay to the holy 
places of Mecca. The prestige of the Mahdi 
was immensely increased by his success. It fell 
with telling effect upon the ears and imagination 
of the Mohammedan races. Victory seemed to 
give sanction to the Mahdi's claim. It was said 
that his army at El Obeid numbered at least 
200,000 men, comprised of dervishes, Bedo- 
ween, mulattoes, and some regular troops sup- 
plied with fire-arms. Of course his follov/ers 
rapidly increased after the overthrow of Hicks 
Pasha's army ; and now the Mahdi seriously 
threatened Khartoum and the Egyptian fortresses 
protecting the Soudan at Dongola, Berber, 
Sennaar and other places between the upper 
Nile and the Red Sea. 

The Mahdi's name was Mohammed Achmet. 
He was a native of the province of Dongola, a 
fortified town on the Nile between the third 
and fourth cataracts, and bordering upon the 
great Nubian desert. He was said to be of pure 
Arab blood ; and this was fortunate for him, since 
none but an Arab could ever hope^ to impose 
a prophetic authority upon Islam. His grand- 



68 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

father was a Moslem priest. His father, Ab- 
dullah, was a carpenter. Early in the Mahdi's 
boyhood the family moved to Shendy, not far 
from Berber. Here the young Achmet was 
apprenticed to his uncle, a boatman. This 
uncle having one day beaten him, the boy ran 
away to Khartoum, where he entered a free 
school kept by a fakir (learned man, head of a 
sect of dervishes). Achmet studied hard, and 
especially absorbed himself in learning the 
doctrines of Mohammedanism as taught by the 
sheik of the shrine of Hoggiali. He then re- 
moved to a similar school near Berber, attached 
to another shrine much reverenced by the natives. 
After passing some time at this and other schools 
Achmet was himself ordained as a sheik, at a 
village called Aradup, in the year 1870, and he 
at once took up his abode in this sacred capacity 
on the Island of Abba, in the White Nile. 

It was at Abba that Achmet entered upon 
those practices and began no doubt to prepare 
himself for that mission which have since at- 
tracted to him the allegiance of such formidable 
numbers of Mohammedans. He dug a deep 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 69 

cave on the island, and made it a habit to retire 
for prayer and contemplation into its darkest 
recesses. There he would repeat for hours 
together one of the names of the Deity, which 
exercise was accompanied by fasting, the burn- 
ing of incense and attitudes of abject humility. 
His renown as a man of saintly character spread 
far and wide. He grew rich on the offerings of 
the pious, and married several wives, being 
always careful to choose them from influential 
and wealthy Arab families. 

At last, in 1881, he openly announced himself 
to be the Mahdi foretold by Mohammed, whose 
advent had been predicted for that very year. 
He sent messages to the sheiks and fakirs round 
about, declaring that he had a divine mission to 
reform Islam ; to establish a universal equality, 
a universal law, a universal religion, and a com- 
munity of goods ; and to destroy all — whether 
Mohammedan or Christian — who refused to 
believe him and to accept him as a true prophet. 
Just as, in Christianity, Christ superseded the 
Mosaic dispetisation, so the Mahdi claims to 
have been sent by Allah to renew the old cove- 



70 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

nant of God with man. By these bold assertions 
the Mahdi soon secured a hearing, then a follow- 
ing. Many of the sheiks who had long observed 
his austere piety were easily persuaded to believe 
him inspired, and adopted his cause with Oriental 
ardor and enthusiasm. He soon found himself 
accepted, not only by large numbers of the 
population in the regions of the Blue and the 
White Nile, but even among the wandering 
tribes of the Nubian and Soudan deserts. 

The Mahdi was fortunate in being able to work 
upon the imagination of the races whom he 
sought to win, by certain circumstances and 
coincidences which seemed to give him a resem- 
blance to the Prophet Mohammed. These the 
ignorant and credulous Arabs were not slow to 
magnify into striking proofs of the Mahdi's 
divine mission. When they heard that he bore 
upon his face certain peculiar marks symbolical 
of a true prophetic character ; that there was a 
difference in the length of his arms and also in 
the color of his eyes, — defects which appertained 
to the great Mohammed himself;- that not only 
was his name, but that of his parents, Moham- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 7 1 

med, their enthusiasm was aroused and their 
faith became fixed. He could assert that, like 
the great prophet, he had been forced to fly for 
his life when he put forth his startling claim ; 
and that, again like the founder of Islam, he had 
been able in spite of repeated obstacles to explain 
the causes of his ill-fortune, and to keep his fol- 
lowers with him in adversity as well as in victory. 

These things he said he had accomplished 
by timely revelations from Allah. Thus it was 
that he carried his cause through the Soudan, 
and made himself reverenced as one who was in 
constant communion with Heaven, and who had 
acquired the exalted power of working miracles. 
The Mahdi's example was followed by other 
fakirs in the Soudan, who rose to rival his 
pretensions and to claim the divine office of 
prophet for themselves. No sooner, however, 
did such rivalry rear its head than the Mahdi 
assailed his foe, and with all the savage and 
pitiless ferocity of Mohammed himself over- 
came him and crushed him and his followers to 
the earth. 

Those who have seen this remarkable man 



72 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

describe him as tall, slim, straight, with the true 
Arab creamy complexion, black hair cut close 
to the skull, and a black beard descending to a 
point after the Arab fashion. His eyes were dark 
and piercing, one eye being black and the other 
brown. His manner was stern, serious, and often 
absent and distraught, as if in deep contempla- 
tion. He was very reticent, giving his orders in 
few words, and was active and alert in all his 
proceedings. The Mahdi proved himself a man 
of extraordinary ability. He was a warrior 
of the fierce, impetuous, obstinate Arab type. 
He kindled to fiery ardor on the battle-field. He 
was yet cautious and adroit as a strategist. His 
career stowed him to be cunning and far- 
seeing. He seems to have maintained a won- 
derful efficiency of military organization among 
the barbarians who so eagerly followed his 
standard, and to have had the ability to create an 
army out of the most unpromising materials. In 
the midst of warlike conflict he maintained his 
religious pretensions and practices. He spent 
much time, in solitude, prayer, fasting and silent 
contemplation. He professed to seek daily the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 73 

counsels and commands of Allah. He claimed 
to communicate with the spirit of Mohammed, 
and to receive from the great prophet the in- 
spiration of his warlike movements. 

Of imposing personal appearance, he sus- 
tained the faith and loyalty of his followers wher- 
ever he himself was present and in their sight. 
He made no secret of his design to reconquer 
Islam, to sweep the Christians from Egypt, 
Turkey, Tunis, Algiers, and even from India 
and Turkistan. He aimed to refound Islam and 
to reform it. His methods, like those of the great 
prophet, were not only militant but relentless. 
Massacre and desolation marked the places across 
which the tornado of his barbaric hordes had 
swept. By fire and sword the old foundations of 
Islam were to be renewed. His exploits made 
him, for the time at least, well-nigh the absolute 
master of the Soudan. The sudden and mysteri- 
ous death of the Mahdi, a few months after his 
many triumphs had culminated in the capture of 
Khartoumandthe immolation of Gordon, abruptly 
cut short a career the conquests and conversions 
of which could not have easily been forecast. 



74 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 



VI. 

ENGLAND IN EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN. 

While the revolt of the Mahdi wore from 
the beginning a religious aspect, while his first 
claim to attention and support was derived from 
his assumption of prophecy, the movement of 
which he took the lead soon became political in 
its objects. It was the long misrule of Egypt in 
the Soudan, a misrule marked by cruelty, rob- 
bery and oppression, which rallied to him his 
rude armies of Arab and negro barbarians. The 
dominion of Egypt had become simply intoler- 
able. The rebellion of Arabi Pasha, though 
unsuccessful, aroused a kindred spirit of resist- 
ance among the warlike tribes of the deserts and 
the upper Nile ; and the Mahdi, with his pro- 
phetic pretensions, came in the nick of time to 
lend superstitious zeal and military ability to the 
movement. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 75 

Of the numbers who flocked to the Mahdi's 
standard, aiTd who afterwards followed him in his 
remarkable career, no estimate can be made. It 
is certain that his forces varied greatly with the 
changing phases of the war. One tribe deserted 
him, while another promptly filled the gap 
after having opposed his progress. A decisive 
success probably always had the effect of 
swelling his ranks. It is very likely that the 
conjecture of a recent writer that in all the 
Mahdi's forces there had been 200,000 warriors 
at one time is approximately accurate. The 
Mahdi succeeded in capturing several of the 
Egyptian garrisons before tfte English came to 
oppose his further advance ; and, as fast as a 
garrison was taken, It was massacred by the 
Mahdi's ruthless followers.. 

The first step taken by England when it had 
become apparent that the revolt of the Soudan 
was assuming dangerous proportions was to ad- 
vise the Khedive, in a tone which was virtually a 
command, to abandon the Soudan altogether, to 
withdraw his garrisons if possible, and leave the 
destinies of the country to its own people. To 



"jS ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

this the Khedive assented. But it soon became 
apparent that the Egyptian government was too 
weak to attempt the withdrawal of the garrisons, 
and England was forced, very much against her 
will, to follow up the advice given to the Khe- 
dive by undertaking the relief of the garrisons 
herself. 

This decision was hastened by an event which 
took place near Suakin. An Egyptian force 
under Valentine Baker was overwhelmingly 
defeated in its attempt to relieve the garri- 
son of Sinkat, a few miles inland, by Osman 
DIgna, one of the Mahdi's Generals. Osman 
Djgna, who afterwards played a notable part in 
the war, wag said to be a Frenchman by birth, to 
have been educated in the military schools at 
Cairo, and to have become a Mussulman in 
early youth. After the defeat of Baker, Osman 
Digna threatened Suakin itself with an Arab 
force estimated at not less than 30,000 men. An 
English expedition, together- with a naval force, 
was at once despatched to the Red Sea. But 
before it could act effectively the Egyptian gar- 
risons at Sinkat and Tokar had yielded to the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 77 

enemy, and had been for the most part mas- 
sacred. 

The English under General Graham now en- 
tered upon a vigorous campaign against Osman 
Digna. It was recognized that in his destruc- 
tion only lay the safety of Suakin, if not that of 
all the garrisons in the northern Soudan. Os- 
man's Arabs swarmed in the hills westward of 
Suakin ; and the English advanced to confront 
him on the Suakin-Berber road. Graham in- 
flicted two crushing defeats on the rebel chief at 
Teb and Tamai, and it seemed for a while as if 
Osman's military power was completely broken. 
Public opinion in England urged at this juncture 
that a part, at least, of Graham's force should 
continue its march across the desert to Berber, 
and thus relieve not only Berber, but Khartoum. 
But, to the general astonishment, Graham with 
his troops withdrew by order of the English 
cabinet, and after two fruitless victories the cam- 
paign near the Red Sea came to an end. 

The problem which now presented itself was 
how to relieve Khartoum, still held by a faithful 
Egyptian garrison, and the most important mill- 



78 ^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

tary position in the Soudan. The relief of 
Khartoum was a much more formidable task 
than the defeat of Osman ; since Khartoum was 
far away amid the interior deserts, and could 
only be reached by any route with infinite diffi- 
culty and danger. The councils of the English 
cabinet were greatly perplexed how to accom- 
plish it. The fear of becoming deeply involved 
in a distant and expensive war with Arab 
fanatics vied with the responsibilities which 
England had assumed in Egypt, and the neces- 
sity of protecting Egypt from an invasion by the 
False Prophet. England had virtually pledged 
herself to rescue the garrisons in the Soudan, 
and could m)t with honor retreat from her en- 
gagement. 

A strange, striking, but as the result proved 
futile policy was adopted by Mr. Gladstone and 
his colleagues. Yet this policy had this merit, 
that if it succeeded it would have cost little in men 
or money. General Charles Gordon had long 
been famous for his military genius, his adventu- 
rous and fearless spirit, his wonderful skill in deal- 
ing with barbarous races, and his high capacity for 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 79 

administration in Mohammedan communities. 
He had fought with gallantry and brilliant suc- 
cess in the Chinese rebellion. He had done ex- 
cellent service as Governor of the Soudan, vv^here 
he had apparently won the respect and allegiance 
of the nomad tribes. He had waged a vigorous 
warfare against the slave-trade. He was full of 
ardor, daring, and self-confidence. The Eng- 
lish cabinet resolved to send General Gordon to 
the Soudan, unattended by any military force, 
but empowered to procure the withdrawal of the 
Egyptian garrisons and to establish a settled 
government by any means which he might find 
it best to adopt. 

Gordon set out for Khartoum in February, 
1884. He went almost alone, bis companions 
being two or three officers and an Arab convoy. 
His only weapon was an ordinary walking-stick. 
He went up the Nile from Cairo to Korosko, 
and thence struck across the Nubian desert, in 
constant peril of his life, surrounded by 
hostile or suspicious tribes, and exposed to 
the many dangers of the desert. But he 
passed it safely, rejoined the Nile at Abu 



So ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

Hamed, and thence proceeded up the river to 
Khartoum. 

At the Soudanese capital he was received 
with a welcome which seemed to give bright 
promise of the success of his mission. With 
his unresting zeal he at once began the task 
committed to him. He found the garrison 
stanch and many of the surrounding tribes not 
unfriendly. He strengthened the fortifications 
of Khartoum and other places in the vicinity, 
established order so far as his authority ex- 
tended, and was even able to send down the river 
to Berber a number of the Egyptians and Euro- 
peans who had been living in Khartoum. At 
first all seemed to go well with Gordon and his 
purposes, and his reports were cheerful and 
sanguine. But as the spring and then the 
summer came on, untoward events took place, 
and the prospect of his success became 
constantly more doubtful. Berber fell into 
the hands of the Mahdi's adherents, and 
so Khartoum was cut off from communi- 
cation with Cairo by the Nubian desert ; 
and gradually but steadily the swarming 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 8 1 

legions of the Mahdi closed around Khar- 
toum itself. 

Gordon appealed to England for help, and 
when help did not come he loudly denounced 
the English cabinet for their dilatoriness and 
vacillation. Ere long the fact became clear 
that not only was Gordon unable to withdraw the 
Khartoum or any other garrison, but that he 
himself could not get away from the beleaguered 
town at the junction of the two Niles. A long 
period of hesitation and unsettled policy on the 
part of the Gladstone cabinet ensued. A des- 
perate hope was clung to that something might 
yet happen to avoid the necessity of sending out 
a rescuing force. The cabinet drifted among 
daily changing counsels. Meanwhile Gordon's 
situation became constantly more precarious, 
and at last the pressure of overwhelming public 
opinion, and the obligation of national honor, 
compelled the cabinet to take decisive action. 

Late in the autumn of 1884 ^ British army 
under General Lord Wolseley (who had won 
his peerage at Tel-el-Kebir) , was despatched 
to the Soudan for the avowed purpose of 



82 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

rescuing Gordon and relieving Khartoum. 
Two routes were open by which the army 
might reach the scene of action : one by way 
of the Red Sea to Suakin, and thence by 
the desert route of 240 miles to Berber on the 
Nile, and by the Nile to Khartoum ; the other 
directly up the Nile to the great bend or loop 
made by the river at Dongola, thence by the 
Bayuda desert across to Shendy, and so by 
river to the Soudanese capital. The latter 
route was at last chosen ; and after a difficult 
and wearisome passage up the Nile Lord 
Wolseley with his troops established head- 
quarters at Korti, a short distance south of 
Dongol^. 

The plan of Lord Wolseley's campaign was 
quickly developed. While remaining himself 
at Korti he decided to send two forces on 
separate lines of advance. Not only Khartoum, 
but Berber, was in the hands of the Mahdi's 
adherents, and it seemed necessary that Berber 
as well as Khartoum should be rescued by the 
English. Accordingly General Earle was de- 
spatched with a force of about 2,500 men up 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 83 

the great bend of the Nile, with a view of 
attacking and reducing Berber ; while General 
Stewart, with a force of about the same 
numerical strength, took up his march east- 
ward across the Bayuda desert, with the intent 
to strike the Nile opposite Shendy. The 
distance traversed by Stewart over this desert 
is about 200 miles. 

The main interest of the campaign centred 
upon Stewart's expedition. It was more 
perilous and difficult than that of Earle up the 
river, and it aimed more directly at the principal 
object of the English in the Soudan, — the rescue 
of Gordon. The march across the desert was 
conducted with masterly skill. Twice Stewart 
and his well-disciplined troops were assailed by 
great numbers of Arabs, first at Abu Klea wells, 
and then a few miles further east, and on both 
occasions the enemy were thoroughly routed. 
After a march of a little over a week Stewart's 
force came in sight of the Nile and established 
their camp at Gubat, on its left bank, a short 
distance south of Metemmeh. The camp was 
well fortified, and successive convoys soon 



84 ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 

supplied it with an abundance of supplies and 
ammunition. 

The next step was to communicate if 
practicable with Gordon at Khartoum. The 
river above Gubat, though difficult, seemed 
at least possible for navigation. It was de- 
termined to despatch two steamers, which 
had been sent down the river some time 
before by Gordon, to the Soudan capital, 
under the command of Sir Charles Wilson. 
Sir Charles accordingly set forth on his ad- 
venturous voyage on January 24, 1885. As the 
steamers passed up the Nile they were as- 
sailed by the Arabs who lined the banks, and 
who maintained a heavy fire on the steamers, 
in some places using Krupp guns. On Janu- 
ary 28 Sir Charles found himself opposite the 
island of Tuti, just north of Khartoum. No 
sooner had his steamers made their appearance, 
however, than a hot fire opened upon them, 
both from Tuti and from Omdurman and 
Khartoum. It then became startlingly appar- 
ent that Khartoum had fallen into the hands 
of the Mahdi. 




KHARTOUM AND ENVIRONS. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 85 

Sir Charles boldly pushed up stream, in the 
midst of a deadly rifle-fire, to within a mile 
of the city itself. He saw the Mahdi's flag 
floating from its ramparts, and swarms of 
the Mahdi's followers going about in its 
streets. He then ordered his steamers to 
retreat down the river, which they did under 
a shower of bullets. When they reached the 
sixth cataract one of the steamers was hope- 
lessly wrecked among the rocks, and its men 
and stores were with difficulty transferred to 
the other steamer. Soon after, the other 
steamer was also wrecked below the Shab- 
luka cataract, and Sir Charles was forced to 
land witli his party on a sandy island, whence 
he sent row-boats to Gubat with tlie intelli- 
gence of the fall of Khartoum and of his own 
perilous plight. Boats were at once despatched 
to his rescue, and the expedition soon reached 
the English camp in safety. 

Khartoum had fallen on January 26, two 
days before the arrival of Sir Charles Wilson's 
steamers. It appeared that certain Arabs 
within the city — the chief of whom was one 



86 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

Farag Pasha — had betrayed the garrison, and 
while warning the soldiers to keep watch on 
the defences at one end of the city had opened 
the gates to the Mahdi and his adherents at 
the other end. Gen. Gordon himself had 
been killed in the street in the meUe which 
followed, and a large part of the garrison had 
been cruelly massacred. The Mahdi had 
long held Omdurman, a fortified place on the 
banks of the White Nile, opposite Khartoum ; 
and it was from this place that he had crossed 
the river, and had availed himself of the treach- 
ery of Farag and his confederates. 

The Stewart expedition had thus been too 
late to "effect the rescue for which an Eng- 
lish army had come to the Soudan. General 
Stewart himself, moreover, had been wounded 
at Abu Klea, and soon after the return of 
Wilson, died. Earle's expedition up the 
great bend of the Nile was still pressing for- 
ward towards Abu Hamed. But in a great 
battle with the Arabs, which took place soon 
after. General Earle was also killed. Lord 
Wolseley had now lost his two principal lieu- 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 8'J 

tenants ; and although the troops in both expe- 
ditions had fought with heroic gallantry, and had 
endured extraordinary hardship with unfaltering 
patience, it now became evident that to pursue 
an active campaign in either direction would be 
futile. The next phase of the war, therefore, 
was the retreat of both expeditions across the 
desert and down the river, until once more 
Wolseley's entire force had gathered in his camp 
at Korti. Wolseley then transferred his head- 
quarters to Dongola for the summer, and the 
Nile campaign came to an end. 

The scene of the war was now shifted to 
Suakin on the Red Sea. The British cabi- 
net resolved that while Wolseley lay through 
the hot weather on the Nile, in inaction, an 
attempt should be made to effect the only 
object which now remained — the reduction 
of Khartoum and the defeat of the Mahdi — 
by the Suakin-Berber route. It was decided 
to build a railway across the desert from 
the Red Sea to the Nile, with its termini 
at Suakin and Berber. But Osman Digna, 
whom Sir Gerald Graham had apparently 



88 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

SO effectually crushed the year before, had 
recovered strength and confidence by the 
fall of Khartoum, and now infested the 
neighborhood of Suakin with a formidable 
force. Once more Graham was despatched 
with troops — among whom was a contingent 
of Indian Sikhs — to confront his old foe. 
A series of battles was fought in the region 
of Tamai, where the victories of a year 
before had been won. The English victories 
were not as decisive as they had before been ; 
yet the result of them seems to have been 
discouraging to the Arab chief. 

At this juncture the English government at 
last can:fe to a decided resolution. It was deter- 
mined to abandon altogether the attempt to 
recapture Khartoum, to withdraw the troops 
from the Nile valley, to stop work on the 
Suakin-Berber railway, and to leave only 
a small garrison at Suakin. So all opera- 
tions in the Soudan came to an end, and the 
chapter of that part of the English interfer- 
ence in Egypt, which related to the Soudan, 
was closed. Meanwhile the death of the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 59 

Mahdi, and the struggle among rival chiefs 
for the command which he vacated, brought 
demoralization to the savage insurgents, 
and they ceased to threaten Egypt proper 
with any formidable menace. Osman Digna, 
the ablest of the Mahdi's generals, appears 
to have been killed in the late summer 
of 1885, and thus the Soudanese revolt 
lost the last of its able and conspicuous 
chiefs. 

The certainty that General Gordon's life 
had been sacrificed profoundly shocked and 
saddened not only England but all of the 
Christian world, which had fixed its atten- 
tion and its admiration on the hero of Khar- 
toum. This feeling was universal, as well 
with those who sympathized with the effort 
of the Soudanese to repel the foreign in- 
vader, as with those who wished well to 
the English arms. The spectacle of the 
valiant, self-forgetful, solitary soldier, staying 
for a year by his own might the waves of 
revolt ; ready to ransom the lives of his 
black people by his own blood ; matching 



90 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

his brave soul, in solitude and abandonment, 
against the daily dangers which beset the 
garrison and the people he was struggling 
to save ; faithfid every moment to his des- 
perate task ; and leaving a name, brightest, 
like the setting sun, at its sinking out of 
sight — deeply and impressively touched the 
heart of all mankind. 

The most recent feature of the Egyptian 
situation is an international settlement of Egyp- 
tian finances. England, unwilling any longer 
to be solely responsible for the debts of Egypt, 
called together a conference of the great powers, 
which was held in London in the summer of 
1884. Xhe powers were not averse from as- 
suming a joint responsibility with England in 
guaranteeing a new Egyptian loan ; but there 
was a disagreement as to the method of adjust- 
ing the Egyptian revenue, and the conference 
dissolved without taking any action. Then 
England sent the Earl of Northbrook to Cairo 
to investigate the financial condition ; and on 
receiving his report reopened negotiations with 
the powers on the subject. 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 91 

The final result was, that an agreement was 
arrived at by England, France, Austria, Ger- 
many, Russia and Turkey, in March, 1885, by 
which a loan of $45,000,000 is to be raised on 
their joint guarantee ; England is to make search- 
ing inquiry into the Egyptian revenue ; foreigners 
in Egypt (hitherto exempt) are to be taxed ; 
the sum of $1,575,000 is to be paid in yearly 
until the loan is completed ; and the interest is 
to be a first charge on the revenues assigned to 
the debt. The supervision of this loan is left to 
a committee, or caisse^ composed of delegates 
of the several powers. At the same time a sub- 
commission was appointed to consider and re- 
port on an international compact securing the 
freedom and neutrality of the Suez canal, and 
establishing rules as to the use of the canal in 
time of war. At the time of writing, this sub- 
commission has not concluded its labors. 

In spite, however, of this entrance of all the 
powers into a joint interference in Egyptian 
finance, and whatever may be the fate of the 
Soudan, England's political grip on Egypt 
proper remains as firm, and seems as likely to be 



92 ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 

indefinitely prolonged, as ever. Above all, in 
view of a war certain, sooner or later, to take 
place between England and Russia in the East, 
it is necessary for England to retain control of 
the land through which the Suez canal takes its 
course, even although the use of that water-way 
becomes subject to international restrictions. 
Gibraltar is the gateway between the Atlantic 
and the Mediterranean. Egypt, by reason of the 
Suez canal, has become the gateway between 
the Mediterranean and the Asiatic waters. Eng- 
land holds the one, and politically dominates 
the other. By Gibraltar she secures unresisted 
access to the historic sea which has for so many 
centuries . formed the water-way by which to 
approach southern Europe. By the control of 
Egypt, and so in a certain sense at least of the 
Suez canal, the Mediterranean has ceased to 
be for English merchantmen and men-of-war 
a cul-de-sac^ and has become an outlet and 
highway to the rich territories over which 
England holds sway in the Orient. 

In brief, England is in Egypt mainly for the 
same reason that she has so long resisted the 



ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 93 

capture of Constantinople by Russia ; that she has 
jealously watched the encroachments of Russia 
in Asia Minor and Central Asia ; that she has 
propped and bolstered up the tottering empire 
of the Turk ; that she has everywhere, and at 
a cost of millions of money and thousands of 
brave soldiers, guarded the approaches from 
Europe to Asia : England is in Egypt mainly 
because England is in India. She has long 
feared that the day would come — and it seems, 
indeed, to be not far distant — when she must 
fight a mighty conflict in order to hold against 
her Tartar and Cossack rival her splendid 
Indian dependency ; and it is probable that, 
when the conflict comes, the troops of England, 
overleaping all restrictions, will hasten by the 
Suez canal to the Orient, there to meet face to 
face, in the gorges of Afghanistan and perhaps 
in the valley of the Indus, the invading legions 
of the White Czar. 



